Truthbook Religious News Blog

Fri, June 24, 2011

Evangelicals Say Secularism Is Top Threat

By Michelle A. Vu

For far more evangelical leaders around the world, the influence of secularism, not Islam, is the major threat, according to a newly released survey

Slightly over 70 percent of global evangelical leaders at the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization – which convened over 4,000 evangelical leaders from over 190 nations last fall in South Africa – named secularism as a major threat, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey. By comparison, only 47 percent of the leaders said the influence of Islam is a major threat.

When combining major and minor threat considerations, 91 percent of the leaders felt secularism is a threat to evangelical Christianity, while 81 percent of the Christian leaders said Islam is a threat to the faith.

Evangelical leaders from the Global North (86 percent) more often felt secularism is a threat to the evangelical faith than those in the Global South (59 percent). And an overwhelming majority from North America, 90 percent, said the influence of secularism is a major threat. The figure is even higher among those in the United States (92 percent).